And just like that POOF!, it’s December again.
Maybe 2025 left you feeling like Alex Mann playing single-handedly against 15 Eben Etzebeths in
a 180 minute rugby game (plus lots of injury time…).
If you’re reading this, you still have (both) your eyes. A small but significant reason for gratitude.
Today, we’re not running any specials. Our brilliant packing team members are still nursing their
Green Week blisters. So we hand over the mic / pen to Doc Frank for his end-of-year thoughts.
BUT… But… but…
Before we do that, here are Some Very Important Things To Take Note Of:
- On 12 December (next Friday or 2 minutes from now as the time-crow flies), we’re closing for
our annual summer break. We will run a final special next week and then we’ll stay quiet
(promise!). - During our break, we will ship parcels once a week. There will be NO express service available
during this time. Plan ahead! People living in George / Oudtshoorn can buy our products at Organic Wellness (they now have three outlets in our area). - Our shipping days during the holidays are as follows:
Monday, 15 December
Tuesday, 23 December
Tuesday, 30 December
These dates will be displayed on our website as well, in case you forget (in which case, may we
suggest Brain-Mag?). - On Monday, 5 January, we fire up the good ol’ V8 again. Business as usual.
If the idea of Integrow Health being closed causes acute panic, may we recommend our Kanna
capsules to you? 🙂
We encourage you to check your supplement stock to make sure you don’t run out of any important
nutrients during the festive season. No, we don’t sell alcohol and, no, it is not an important nutrient.
Another reason to order before 12 December is that we adjust our prices during the break. If you’re
a South African, you know that “adjust” is a euphemism for “raise”. We’ve done well to keep our
price adjustments below our competitors, but don’t get caught with your vitamin jars empty!
Right, hold on to your seats! We’re handing over to Doc Frank…
***
At the end of every year, one tends to feel a little reflective.
* What did I achieve?
* How does it compare to what I set out to achieve?
Between these two loaded questions, there stretches an immense gulf of unmet expectations,
unwanted interruptions and unexpected twists and turns.
It smells like failure, doesn’t it?
But what if you take a step back? Like, you know, ten years back?
Compared to who you were and what you knew ten years ago, does it still smell like failure? Or do
you see one or more trends emerging? Growth in places you did not expect to see any?
Taking the long view every now and then can be an unsettling experience. It highlights your true
priorities and these may look different from what you thought they were. It is said that people on
their deathbed do not lament the things they could never have, or the status they never had, or the
experiences they never had.
They lament the relationships they never invested in as they should have.
When looking back at 2025, it is likely that relationships tripped you up on your way to your goals.
A loved one falling ill or dying. A marriage in deep trouble. Betrayal by a friend. A family dispute.
Stress at work or university. Maybe your own health nose-dived and you had to live life very
differently from how you planned it.
“C’est la vie,” as the French would say.
These “speed bumps” or “detours” are actually the highway. Contrary to popular opinion, life is not
about building a highway or even following a highway. The gurus so glibly talk about “legacy” – the
idea of leaving some sort of grand monument behind that generations to come will look up to for
inspiration. However, this is not life, it is pride and folly.
Success is not all it’s cracked up to be.
More often than not, real life is about taking the hard path next to someone in trouble. Calling it a
path is maybe an overstatement. Usually, you are the first one beating a path through the long grass
of uncharted territory. All this while holding the hand of someone in need and struggling to stay on
your own feet at the same time. Sometimes, you lose your footing. Sometimes, you let go of that
hand. Then you pick yourself up again. You grab that hand again. And you begin walking again.
At the beginning of this year, we made some suggestions how you could use this year to rebuild
your health. Hopefully, you implemented some of these recommendations and have seen the fruits.
Here’s the thing, though: Health for the sake of selfish ambition is empty gain.
All of us at Team Integrow are dedicated to the idea that health is intended for mutual benefit,
support and encouragement. We want you to be healthy (or healthier) so you can touch more lives,
walk more miles on rough roads and hold more desperate hands… It’s not about the best
supplement stack, it’s about faith, hope and (most of all) love. If all we did was sell supplements,
we’d be like any other supplement company out there. For us, supplements are merely a tool to help
heal the body, but true healing is the healing of relationships. If we can make this happen, we have
succeeded.
We trust that you saw something of this in your interaction with Integrow Health this year. Yes, we,
too, get busy with “getting things done”, but our guiding star is to bring hope where there is little or
none. Did you see this glimmer of light through us?
There are enough grand monuments around – legacies of people who trampled on others to get to
the “top”. How about being remembered by a handful of people for your humility and kindness
instead? How about facing death without lament or regret?
Long, long ago, a baby in a manger showed the way.
To your (grateful) health
